Prior strikes will stand for man accused of shooting at deputy

A Mendocino County Superior Court judge on Wednesday upheld two prior strikes under the state's Three Strikes law for a passenger accused of attempted murder for allegedly shooting at a deputy sheriff's car during a high-speed chase earlier this year.

Walter K. Miller, 43, of Ukiah, is accused of leaning out the window of a 1995 Thunderbird driven by Christopher Skaggs -- who also stands accused in the incident -- and shooting several times at a pursuing deputy's patrol car, hitting the radiator and disabling it during a high-speed chase on the winding Highway 253 south of Ukiah on the night of Feb. 25.

"This is not a case where the defendant should be excluded from the purview of the Three Strikes law," said judge John Behnke, who denied a motion by Miller's Ukiah defense attorney, Al Kubanis, to remove the two strikes from his client's record.

Behnke heard the motion Sept. 3 and put off ruling on it to give Kubanis time to gather more information about one of the strikes, a 1994 attempted robbery in Sonoma County. Kubanis told the court Miller had pocketed baseball cards in a convenience store, and that the clerk confronted him about the theft when he went to pay for something else.

The clerk grabbed Miller by his shirt and didn't let him leave, according to Kubanis, and Miller picked up and brandished a liquor bottle "mostly, I think, to get away," according to Kubanis.

Behnke said the one factor in Miller's favor was that it wasn't clear at what point in the struggle Miller gave the baseball cards back before squirming out of his shirt and leaving the store.

Behnke said Miller has in the neighborhood of 17 offenses on his record, and that the crimes appeared to be getting more serious.

The second strike was for making threats in a 2007 domestic dispute on the coast, according to Kubanis.

"The Three Strikes law is aimed at recidivism in general," said prosecutor Matt Hubley of the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office, outlining his opposition to striking the prior strikes. The court, he said, considers the seriousness of the current offense and prior offenses, among other factors, in making such a ruling.

Miller has a "long history" of using drugs, according to Hubley, including an unsuccessful attempt at rehabilitation.

Behnke denied Kubanis' motion without prejudice, meaning Kubanis can bring back the motion to strike the two strikes at sentencing -- where such motions are typically made -- if Miller is found guilty.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.